1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to creating links for web pages. The invention is more specifically related to links that invoke streaming content from a server, and to the creation of a master movie on the fly that is played on a content viewer's machine to determine connection speed, and the creation of a movie player on the fly that is sent to the content viewer's machine to provide a rich interactive user interface and to play the content to be streamed to the content viewer.
2. Discussion of Background
As communications via the Internet have progressed over time, various standards have emerged which attempt to define the manner in which information is transferred over the Internet. These standards define not only the communication mechanisms employed but also the format in which the information is packaged, how information is routed based upon its content and how it is interpreted upon receipt. Examples of communication standards that have been developed specifically for the Internet include the Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Further, examples of standards that define communication content, organization and structure include the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and the Wireless Markup Language (WML), among other standards.
HTTP provides for the delivery of Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) from clients to servers and the delivery of text files from servers to clients and is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. HTTP is an application-level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems and has been in use by the World-Wide Web global information initiative since 1990. HTTP allows an open-ended set of methods that indicate the purpose of a request. It builds on the discipline of reference provided by the URI as a Uniform Resource Location (URL) or Uniform Resource Name (URN), for indicating the resource to which a method is to be applied. Messages are passed in a format similar to that used by Internet mail as defined by the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME). HTTP is also used as a generic protocol for communication between user agents and proxies/gateways to other Internet systems, including those supported by the SMTP, NNTP, FTP, Gopher, and WAIS protocols. In this way, HTTP allows basic hypermedia access to resources available from diverse applications.
Content delivered from HTTP servers (also known as Web servers) to Web browsers is delivered in HTML format. HTML describes how a page is to appear in a device-independent manner. Individual devices interpret the HTML and choose how to best display it, given the restrictions of the local environment. The lowest common denominator for HTML was originally specified to be a VT-100 class terminal with an 80-character wide, continuously scrolling display plus a random access pointing device such as a mouse. Today, most Web content requires a more sophisticated browser that can display bit-mapped graphics, run Java programs and multimedia presentations. HTML does not scale well to small displays and mouseless user interfaces, and is a practical impossibility for delivering information to handheld devices with size, memory and cost constraints.
Rich Media is an approach to Internet advertising that utilizes a number of cutting-edge techniques. These can include animation, audio, video, and different kinds of interactivity that make ads or presentations both memorable and useful for a viewer. Rich media ads and presentations take traditional media assets like video, audio, animation, and photos, and combine them into a multimedia branding experience that streams from an ad server to a publisher site (e.g., e-tailers, like Amazon™, or manufacturers such as Cannon™).
What makes rich media advertising truly unique, and sets it apart from the GIF format, is its interactive nature. Instead of creating a one-way presentation like a television commercial, rich media ads invite the consumer to interact with the ad to gain additional information or insight into the advertiser's products or services. For example, a rich media ad from a car manufacturer might ask the consumer a few questions about their lifestyle, and then deliver information about a particular car model suited to the consumer's choices. Alternatively, a toy company might offer a simple game to show off their latest product. They could also choose to sell their product directly within the rich media ad.
Although the advantages of rich media and other content for advertising and displaying products is readily apparent, some drawbacks limit their effectiveness. For example, security that prevents rich data from being played by unauthorized referring web sites is needed. Furthermore, web developers or other authorized users of rich media (and other content) are in need of consistent methods to refer to rich media assets.
In addition, content viewers have machines that typically run at different connection speeds that creates a need for altering the performance or rate at which content is streamed to the content viewer's machine. The content viewers connection speed is either preset or tested just prior to streaming content. However, current methods for testing connection speed are cumbersome and time consuming as these tests are produced of-line and specifically for the content to be streamed.
To be most effective, players used by content viewer's are customized to the product or manufacturer of the product or service being displayed by the content. However, due to the large number of products and services that may be streamed to potential content viewers, it is cumbersome and time consuming to create players for every asset.